Demigod Discovery
by petrichor-patronus
Summary: The Avengers team, along with Phil Coulson, get called to a special meeting by Nick Fury where they read the first book of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Lightning Thief. Characters may seem a bit OOC.
1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**_ Alright so this is the first fanfic that I've actually gotten around to writing more than a few pieces of the idea. I was debating between Fury showing the team the books and Tony hacking into the database and finding them but this is what I came out with. I should have the first chapter up by tomorrow evening, sorry if the time is off, I just moved to Australia so you might get updates early in the morning haha. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, all credit goes to Marvel and Rick Riordan. The writing in bold is from Rick Riordan's book, The Lightning Thief._

* * *

The Avengers were seated around the long table on the newly-restored helicarrier. They had been called together for a "special" meeting. That was all the information any of the team mates had received, although Tony was doing his best to hack SHIELD's files and find some more information before the beginning of the meeting. JARVIS was working as hard as he could, but all Tony could find were some old missile plans in Turkey.. or something like that.

Before he could find anything important, Director Fury strode into the large operating room carrying five small books under his arm. Once he reached the head of the table, he slammed the books down and looked around at each of the team mates in turn with his single eye. It's not that Fury was mad, that's just the way he acted. Tony still couldn't tell if that was his personality or he was putting on a big show. _Probably the latter_ he thought.

"Now I know we are not facing any current threats." said Fury, his voice carrying across the operating room. "That does not mean we should sit around and do nothing. I have been hard at work, and have found a resource that could be of great use to us." The Avengers all looked around, throwing each other confused looks. _A resource? I hope it's not another tesseract. _Thought Tony.

"After the actions of the council during the battle with the Chitari, I no longer have much faith in them. That is why I am giving this decision to you." Phil Coulson walked in and took a seat next to the director. _I still can't believe he survived that attack from Loki. And I can't believe Fury lied to us that son of a- _Tony's thoughts were cut off by Fury.

"Now most people think y'all are a bunch of crazies, but Phil here thought it would be best for you to help decide what is to be done about these new discoveries. Here are the books telling the adventures of a boy named Percy Jackson. I won't say any more on the subject. Just read the damn books."

With that Fury walked out the door, leaving the stack of books on the end of the table. _Well, here goes nothing. _Thought Tony, getting up to pick up the first on the stack.

He played with it on the way back to his seat. "I guess I'll start then?" said Tony, glancing around at the rest of the team. They all nodded their consent and so Tony opened up the book. "**The Lightning Thief**. Hmm I wonder if that's supposed to be literal.." everyone looked over to Thor who just shrugged, and shook his head.

"Alrighty then. **Chapter One: I vaporize my pre-Algebra teacher**."


	2. I vaporize my prealgebra teacher

**Author's Note:** _Alright guys, this took me almost all night and was a bitch to write, but here it is! I can't believe anyone actually read my story- thank you so much for the favourites, follows, and of course, reviews! To authorwannabe101: I hope there's enough dialogue between the book, it thins out towards the end, but I'm so tired and need to get to sleep! And Wolf's Willow: I love these stories so much too! I'm thinking of doing one with Harry Potter after this.. Lastly, Bookdancer: I love Hawkeye so much too! Jeremy Renner is amazing, I can't wait to see the Bourne Legacy with him in it! So yeah, expect to see lots of Hawkeye. Here's the first real Chapter, I'll try to get the next one up tomorrow night/Saturday morning._

_Oh, did anyone get the reference in the last chapter? Guess what you think it was in the reviews and get an imaginary cupcake!_

* * *

"Alrighty then. **Chapter one: I accidentally vaporize my pre-algebra teacher.**"

The Avengers sent confused glances to each other. "Haha, atta boy. Never liked any of my teachers, I probably should've done the same." said Tony with a laugh.

"You think this is funny Tony? Maybe we have to hunt this guy down or something. Maybe he's a killer and our next job is-" Natasha was cut off by Steve's short cough. "I think we're over reacting right now. We haven't even started reading the actual book yet." Bruce nodded and Tony continued reading.

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

Some more confused looks were thrown around the table.

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe what-ever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

Clint snorted, "Yeah, I think it's going to be really hard for _us _to lead normal lives. Sorry to burst your bubbles guys" he said with mock sincerity.

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

"Well if they pass on in the way of a Warrior they should be proud!" Thor said, scaring Bruce and Culson, who were sitting next to him. "I'm not sure most people think that way buddy" Clint muttered under his breath.

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages- if you feel something stirring inside-stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

Everyone stilled, as if they were trying to see if something stirred inside them, before realizing how silly they were being. _I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this. _Thought Tony. He could tell the others were getting the same feeling.

**Don't say I didn't warn you. **

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

"And he has a name!" cried Tony, before continuing.

**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

"WHAT?" cried Steve. "He's only twelve? He shouldn't have to go through anything, he's too young." Bruce nodded in agreement "I hope nothing bad happens to him" he said in his usual, quiet voice.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I doubt we would be reading a book about this kid if nothing bad happens to him." Clint said to the group. "Oh Barton, always the optimist I see." replied Phil Coulson.

**Am I a troubled kid?**

_I am guessing so. _Thought Tony.

**Yeah. You could say that.**

Tony smiled.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan- twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"Ugh that sounds like torture!" cried Tony, only to receive one of Natasha's signature's death glares, making him shut up quickly. He would like to finish this chapter with his life in tact, thank you very much.

**I know-it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were.**

The group chuckled at the similarity to Tony's outburst.

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes. **

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

"Haha, Mr. Brunner." said Clint "Sounds just like Mr. Banner does it not?". Clint smirked at Bruce. "Something you not telling us?" he taunted with a wink. "And I mean you wouldn't think you'd be cool eith-" "He sounds like a great teacher." said Natasha, trying to get the attention off Bruce, she was still a bit paranoid when it came to taunting Bruce and didn't want to deal with another.. episode on the helicarrier.

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

_You make it sound like that's a regular activity for you. _Thought Tony, trying to keep a smile off his face.

**Boy, was I wrong.**

Groans sounded from all around the table.

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

Clint was trying to contain his laughter, and the rest of the table were smiling at the situation the kid had gotten himself into.

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind- the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

Clint was now howling with laughter, and Tony could barely breathe enough to continue on with the story. Even Bruce and Steve were giving light hearted chuckles.

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

"That never works out well" commented Bruce. "That statement just bought himself a ticket for trouble." said Natasha, agreeing with Bruce.

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

Everyone scrunched their noses up, as if they could smell the odour of the sandwich from where they were sitting.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled.**

"What a dashing description of his friend there." said Clint, with a fairly large serving of sarcasm to go along with it. Tony couldn't help but nod in agreement. "I hope he's not trying to be mean or anything." Steve said with a serious face, everyone knew how Steve felt about bullies.

**He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

The last comment lighted the mood and Clint bit back a bark of laughter.

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

Tony chuckled, thinking back of all the times he had been in a similar situation. And gone and done something bad anyways, although his dad just made another "small" donation to the school and suddenly he was the golden student once again.

**"I'm going to kill her, " I mumbled.**

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter. "**

Nobody laughed.

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

Everyone could tell Steve was starting to get upset about the situation.

**"That's it. " I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

"Awe come on kid- Go get her!" Clint cheered. "I don't think we should be encouraging him Barton." replied Coulson. "You wouldn't want him to get into trouble would you?" Clint mumbled something that sounded a lot like _she deserves it _or _but it would be funny._

**"You're already on probation, " he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens. "**

_I'm guessing that would be you. _Thought Tony, and judging by the looks around the table, the rest of the team was thinking the same thing.

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

Another chorus of groans went up. "Looks like someone is foreshadowing" Clint said with a staged "tutt tutt."

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour. **

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery. **

"Yeah, yeah that's lovely" muttered Tony under his breath. He didn't look up to check if he was receiving another death glare.

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

"That does sound amazing!" cried Thor. "Almost as old as me and my.." Thor trailed off, not wanting to talk about his brother. Tony didn't know what had happened up on Asgard, but he guessed it wasn't the most heartwarming welcome-home party for Loki and his family.

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

"I have a bad feeling about that teacher." Bruce said quietly.

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

"A nervous breakdown? That sounds a bit suspicious to me." said Natasha. "Everything is suspicious to you." Clint replied, earning himself a hard smack on the arm from the assassin.

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn.**

"Well-" Clint started before getting cut off by yet another smack from the woman beside him.

**She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey, " real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

Tony groaned, feeling the kid's pain. He got more detentions from his schools than he could count, enough for a lifetime. No, make that five lifetimes.

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right. "**

The Avengers looked around at each other and Clint started "Do you actually thin-" before being cut off by Natasha "How about we continue with the book and maybe we could find that out for ourselves?"

Everyone went silent, not wanting to get on her bad side. Everyone except Tony that is, he decided to add onto Clint's statement. "Well it wouldn't be that weird would it? I mean look at what we've seen. Or maybe it would. I mean the kid's only twelve. And it's a Math teacher for God's sake. I mean, they are pretty bori-" "TONY!" everyone cried. "SHUT UP!"

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art. **

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"**

"Oh look at that he's just like you guys" Tony muttered.

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

_Always does. _Thought Tony.

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story. **

**"Mr. Jackson, " he said, "did you have a comment?" **

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**

Bruce whistled. "Busted." he said quietly.

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

"I guess not" he said again.

**"Yes, " Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ... " **

**"Well... " I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and-" **

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

"Isn't he a Titan?" said Steve. Everyone looked at him in surprise. "What?" he cried. "I was asleep for seventy years, not seven thousand!"

**"Titan, " I corrected myself. "And ... He didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters-" **

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

"Oh get a grip" muttered Natasha, causing Clint to lean towards Bruce; and more importantly, away from Natasha.

**"-and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans, " I continued, "and the gods won." **

**Some snickers from the group.**

"Is there any reason for them to snicker? I don't get it." said Steve. "The lives of the Gods are no laughing matter!" said Thor, or should I say, thundered Thor. There's only one volume level with that big guy, and it's maximum.

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids. '" **

**"And why, Mr. Jackson, " Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?" **

**"Busted, " Grover muttered.**

Tony snickered._  
_

**"Shut up, " Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears. **

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir.**

**"I see. " Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

"Yeah what a great way to start your lunch break, everyone can pretend their lunches are a bunch of Gods." said Tony. "People can play: Who's the better Kronos? Hey, I think I remember some of that stuff actually.. Rhodey and I took a course about that.. sometime in University.." Tony started to trail off, only to see some annoyed stares from his team mates. "Right, back to the story."

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses. **

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson. "**

"Uh oh, someone's in trouble." said Tony in a sing song voice.

**I knew that was coming. **

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

"He should go easy on the kid, he didn't really do anything bad." said Coulson, his eyes filled with worry. "I'm sure it'll be okay Phil." Steve replied, looking like he was in the same position. "He sounded like a nice guy."

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go- intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

_I wonder if that means something. _Thought Tony. He shot Bruce a quick glance to see if he had notice the same thing. His friend just shrugged. _Too early in the story to tell, I guess._

**"You must learn the answer to my question, " Mr. Brunner told me. **

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it. " **

**"Oh."**

Clint snorted.

**"What you learn from me, " he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson. "**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

Tony was starting to feel bad for the kid, and so were some if his team mates, he could see.

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman per-son who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C- in my life. No-he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

"Poor kid" Tony heard Steve say quietly on his right.

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral. **

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

"Great advice there." said Clint. "Maybe if we all go outside and eat our lunches like Mr. Brunner told us to we could be great at school too!"

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had**

**massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

Tony could recall some of that weather from a few years ago. "Hey I think I remember those crazy storms, do you think he had something to do with it?" he asked the group. Everyone shrugged. "It could have been anything, therefore is probably nothing." Phil replied.

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

"I'm still not liking this teacher." Bruce put in. Receiving nods from around the table.

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

Steve frowned.

**"Detention?" Grover asked. **

**"Nah, " I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean-I'm not a genius. "**

That wiped the frown right off Steve's face. "See Phil, he's a good guy." he said, starting to smile again.

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

This made Clint spit out the water he had taken a sip of. "Awe man I didn't see that coming." he said with a laugh. Bruce and Natasha checked themselves, to see if they had gotten affected by the spray from the man in between them.

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it. **

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

Tony felt a pang of jealousy at that, his parents had always ignored him, always had something better to do. This kid had more than he ever did when it came to his parents. _It's not the kid's fault he has something you want. Don't take it out on him. _He told himself.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

Another snicker from Clint.

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends-I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists-and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

What sounded like a growl came from Steve. When everyone looked at him in confusion he simply said. "I don't like bullies."

**"Oops. " She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray- painted her face with liquid Cheetos. **

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper."**

"Oh great, this kid practically has a therapist!" cried Clint. Then he looked over at Tony, "Hey aren't you supposed to have a therapist?" he asked. "Well I do pay a therapist." said Tony. "But we don't normally talk about my emotional feelings, I mean she is gorgeous we sometimes get a bit.. side tracked." he said with a smirk, earning himself a disapproving look from Steve. "Like how you're getting side tracked now?" Natasha said icily.

**But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

"Is that supposed to be a strange metaphor, or.." Bruce trailed off, lost in thought.

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

"Atta boy Percy!" cheered Clint. "I knew you would do it eventually!" It was Phil's turn to give someone a disapproving look.

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us. **

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see-" **

**"-the water-" **

**"-like it grabbed her-"**

That threw the team for a loop. They looked at each other questionably.

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

_You got that right. _Thought Tony.

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc. , etc. , Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey-" **

**"I know, " I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks. "**

Tony winced. "Awe no, wrong thing to say!" he cried.

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

Everyone chuckled.

**"Come with me, " Mrs. Dodds said. **

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her. "**

Everyone looked confused. _Why would he lie to the teacher? To get Percy out of trouble? It's not that big of a deal is it, I mean he'll just get a detention or something.._

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death. **

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled. **

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood, " she said.**

**"But-"**

**"You-will-stay-here. " **

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

Clint looked over at Tony, "What?" he mouthed. Tony just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head before continuing. He didn't understand what was happening either.

**"It's okay, man, " I told him. "Thanks for trying. " **

**"Honey, " Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now. " **

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

This caused Natasha to heave a large sigh in frustration. _I hope this girl never runs into Natasha. _Thought Tony. _For her own safety._

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare. Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on. **

**How'd she get there so fast?**

"Something supernatural?" Bruce put that idea up on the table. Everyone looked worried at the thought. Supernatural always makes the job harder, you never know exactly what you're up against.

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

"Could just be his ADHD, like he said." said Tony. "I'm not so sure." Steve replied.

**I wasn't so sure.**

This caused both Tony and Clint to smirk.

**I went after Mrs. Dodds. **

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

_Is something going on between Grover and Mr. Brunner? _Thought Tony. _I mean he's just an old teacher in a wheelchair, there's not much he can is if Mrs. Dodds is a problem- you still don't know that Tony._

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall. **

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

"Lets hope that's all she wants." Coulson said darkly. Bruce shifted uncomfortably in his chair, hoping this would be a false alarm, and nothing bad would happen to Percy.

**But apparently that wasn't the plan. **

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section. **

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

Everyone groaned. "Great now we _know _something bad is going to happen" moaned Clint.

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

_Well that's not normal. _Thought Tony. _Unless she just has a sore throat, maybe she's just sick and is trying to get rid of the phlegm or something. I mean you never kno- _Tony cut through his thoughts and continued reading.

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it... **

**"You've been giving us problems, honey, " she said. **

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am. "**

"Something tells me playing it safe isn't going to help." Steve said cautiously.

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

"Get away wi-" Clint received another smack from Natasha. _Yeah I know. _Thought Tony. _Get away with what? _"Is there something the kid's not telling us?" he asked.

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil. **

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

_Okay. Teacher with a beyond-mad-evil-look. I'm guessing her being a teacher isn't going to do much good. _Thought Tony.

**I said, "I'll-I'll try harder, ma'am. "**

**Thunder shook the building. **

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson, " Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain. "**

Confused glances were thrown around the table yet again. _Something tells me we're going to have to get used to being confused here. _Thought Tony.

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room. Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

This caused Tony to let out a bark of laughter. "Yeah I never read the book either." he commented.

**"Well?" she demanded. **

**"Ma'am, I don't... " **

**"Your time is up, " she hissed.**

"Here we go." whispered Clint.

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

"Yeah, I definitely don't like this teacher." said Bruce. "But the real question is, if she's not human, what is she?" asked Coulson. "Something like a Chitari?" supplied Natasha. "I don't think so." said Phil, remember this happened a few years ago, we would have known if the Chitari had breached Earth then.

**Then things got even stranger. **

"That would be hard to do." muttered Tony.

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

_Something tells me that isn't going to be of much use here, buddy. _Thought Tony.

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

Everyone was on the edge of their seats, waiting to hear what would happen next. Nobody wanted to believe Percy would die. _There's still more books left._

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword-Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

_Okay, maybe the pen did help a bit.._

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes. **

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword. **

**She snarled, "Die, honey!" **

**And she flew straight at me.**

The whole room seemed to hold their breath. Everyone was sitting on the edge of their seats, rooting for Percy.

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

"Naturally." said Clint, the single word dripping with sarcasm.

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!**

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

_Wait. WHAT?_

**I was alone. **

"What?" Steve gasped, voicing everyone's thoughts. Tony kept reading, looking for an explanation.

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand. **

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me. **

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or some-thing. **

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

"That kid recovers from shock pretty quickly then." observed Natasha. "He's making joked already."

**I went back outside. **

**It had started to rain.**

"Has anybody noticed he pays a lot of attention to the weather?" asked Bruce. "I mean he mentions it almost every page. Everyone seemed to ponder on that thought. _"_It's probably important then." Coulson replied. "We should look out for that."

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt. "**

"Who?" Thor asked, looking thoroughly confused.

**I said, "Who?"**

**"Our teacher. Duh!"**

_What just happened? Did she wipe their minds? Is that even possible?_

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away. **

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

"Grover has to know what's going on." Steve said, nodding.

**He said, "Who?"**

Steve let out a breath. "Or not" he muttered.

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me. **

**"Not funny, man, " I told him. "This is serious. " **

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

"More weather." Bruce mused. "It has to mean something.

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, read-ing his book, as if he'd never moved. **

**I went over to him.**

Steve spoke up again. "Okay. He _has _to know what's going on."

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson. " **

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it. **

**"Sir, " I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

Before Steve could complain again Thor spoke up. "I think these mortals know what has come to pass. They are just hiding the truth from the young boy." Everyone nodded in agreement, taking in that theory.

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher. "**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

Tony looked up from the page to see all the Avengers looking at him. "Well." he said "That's the end of the chapter. Something is definitely up, but more importantly, who wants to read next?" Steve leaned over and put out his hand. "I guess I will." he said "Let's keep going, I think we all want to know what happens next."


	3. Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death

**Author's Note: I am going to say this now, if more people agree with what Urfan said about my story, please post a review (I would appreciate it so much if you said it in a respectful way) and let me know if you want this story to be taken down. I will be more than happy to do that if this is causing trouble. I did post a disclaimer, and do not take any credit. I would like to apologize and ask you to let me know wether or not to take this down, just please try to be kind about it. I did not mean to hurt anyone and would appreciate if you could do the same to me. I apologize in advance.**

_I am so sorry! Please don't kill me, I know it took me a long, long time to update this (almost three and a half weeks!). But alas, I am still alive. I could easily ramble on excuses that have to do with me moving and being at a new school and doing lots of homework but, let's face it, that's a load of bull. The main reason I didn't really write is because I've been spending my nights reading fanfiction. Yes, I was on this very site. So close, and yet so very far. I've gotten so many reviews and follows and favourites it's amazing! I honestly didn't expect anything and every time I see an alert on my phone it makes my day. I won't reply to everyone here, but know that I have read every review and it means so much to me that you've spent your time typing something up for me. _

_To answer a few questions, I will probably not have the Percy gang be reading it with them, but I'm planning a real story once the Avengers have read all of the Percy Jackson books (and that will happen so because I am going to be updating more- that's a promise). As for Loki, I have my own little genius, kay maybe not so genius, but it's still a plan that I have for him. So stay tuned!_

_I will try and tear myself away from my new obsession with Merlin fanfics and get the next chapter up in the next few days! I hope you enjoy this chapter and without further ado, Chapter 2 ladies and gentlemen!_

* * *

"Okay let's get started, Chapter 2:**Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death**." Steve said, putting on his "I am the leader" voice.

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

"Do you think he just hallucinated the whole Mrs. Dodds experience?" Natasha asked the group. "I mean it would make more sense that one person hallucinated, over the theory of the entire school going crazy." Coulson added to her statement "Plus the new teacher, is she part of the plan some how? How did they convince her she had been teaching the whole year?" Everyone just looked confused again.

_Great. _Thought Steve. _One paragraph into the next chapter and we just have even more questions than answers. I need to figure out what's going on._

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

Tony laughed. "Oh how much I would have paid to see that!" Clint looked at him, amused. "I'm guessing a lot? You know.. considering the whole billionaire thing?" "Not just billionaire buddy! There's also a genius, play boy and philanthropist in there." Tony retorted, giving the archer a wink.

**It got so I almost believed them-Mrs. Dodds had never existed. **

"I'm not so sure I would do that." mumble Bruce.

**Almost.**

**But Grover couldn't fool me. When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

"Does that still mean he's hallucinating Tasha?" Clint smirked at the woman sitting beside him, receiving only a signature death glare in response.

**Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum.**

"No shit. Maybe your teacher went insane and attacked you? Sound familiar?" Tony said, his voice thick was sarcasm.

"Remember Tony, that could have been a hallucination." Natasha tried to reason with him. "I don't think he was crazy." Tony replied. "Something fishy is going on." The assassin opened her mouth to continue the argument but Steve started reading before she could say anything.

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

Steve thought of all the times he had woken up in the same position after having dreams full of Bucky, Peggy, and all of his friends from the 1940's. _Not only of my friends. _Steve thought bitterly, thinking of Schmidt.

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

_I wonder what that means. Weird weather, maybe aliens? _Thought Steve. Then he chided himself, _you sound like some UFO hunter, look what's happened to you. Imagine saying something like that in the 1940's. _

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**

Tony whistled. "Wow, kid's even worse than I was!" Bruce looked over with a puzzled look, "I thought you were a genius, Tony." he said. "Well, I was a genius, but if I ever wanted to get back at my dad for something, I mean.." Tony trailed off.

Steve felt the familiar wave of guilt that always came up when Howard was mentioned. He knew Tony hadn't had the best relationship with his father, and because of some of the things Tony had said, he felt partially responsible for it.

_Just keep reading. _Steve thought to himself.

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

This caused a round of laughter from across the table. Thor took a break from his roaring to ask "What _does _that mean in this day?"

Coulson spoke up, "It means an old drunkard" Thor frowned, "There is nothing wrong with enjoying mead! My people do not go a meal without it!" Natasha replied in a clipped tone. "Well humans are more affected by it than the people of Asgard. Now if we could continue.."

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

Steve frowned. _Poor kid. He's just under a lot of pressure. They should give him a second chance. Everyone deserves a second chance._

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

**I was homesick. **

"Awe oodly kins want to go home?" Clint asked in a baby voice, earning him a sharp nudge from Natasha. "What?" He exclaimed. "Is there anything I _can _say?"

Steve quickly started reading, saving Clint from further damage.

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

"Poker is _not _stupid!" Tony cried, the irritation showing on his face.

**And yet... There were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

"The boy is loyal to his friends. A good quality in any warrior." Thor said, nodding his approval. Everyone smiled, they may not agree on everything, but they were a team and they looked out for each other no matter what.

**I'd miss Latin class, too-Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

Steve thought of Dr. Erskine, who was the lead scientist in his "super soldier" experiment. _He always believed in me. He made me believe in myself. _Percy's teacher reminded himself of the scientist. Steve prayed that Percy's teacher would be spared the fate that had taken Dr. Erskine.

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**

"Is anybody getting a bad feeling about this?" Tony asked warily.

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one- eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it. **

Clint and Tony groaned in unison. "Latin is a _bitch_." said Tony, obviously remembering some unpleasant experiences from his college years. _"_I gave up on that class after a month. Switched it for third year calculus or something."

Bruce smiled at this. "And what year were you in?" Steve could see the self confident grin spreading across the face of the man next to him. "Freshman. Told you I was a genius."

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**

"No pressure or anything." mumbled Bruce. Everyone looked over cautiously, not able to tell how mad he was getting. Seeing their glances he just shrugged.

"I'm fine guys." he said, trying to reassure the team.

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

"I am proud of this young man. He does not wish to disappoint his teacher." Thor gave a small smile. "Maybe he's just a suck up-" Tony started to say before he was cut off by a round of "TONY!"

Steve couldn't help but chuckle, _Oh Tony, you always see the best in everybody don't you?_

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor. **

"Someone's about to get them self into trouble." Clint said in a sing song voice. Steve had an uneasy feeling that said he agreed with Clint. _Something bad is coming. _He thought.

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... Worried about Percy, sir. "**

"Why would Grover be worried about Percy?" Natasha thought out loud. "I thought Percy was the one who had to worry about Grover?"

_There must be more to Grover. Something special about him. _Steve smiled. _Like me worrying about Bucky when he went out to fight. I was just his scrawny friend, but that didn't stop me from caring._

**I froze.**

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

"Despite his claim, something tells me he would be eavesdropping regardless." Coulson said with a chuckle. Everyone smiled at that, agreeing with the agent's comment.

**I inched closer. **

**"... Alone this summer, " Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too-"**

"Wait a second, was that _thing _his teacher turned into called a Kindly One?" asked Bruce. Everyone shrugged, "I guess so." said Steve. "I can't think of what else they could be talking about."

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him, " Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more. "**

Tony snorted. _He's on the only one who needs to mature more. _Thought Steve.

**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice dead-line- " **

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**

"I don't have a good feeling about this." mumbled Clint. Everyone shifted in their seats, worried what that could mean.

**"Sir, he saw her... . "**

**"His imagination, " Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that. "**

"I don't think that worked." said Coulson. "He knows what he saw."

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again. " Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean. "**

"No, actually I don't." Tony interjected, before Steve could continue. "I hate listening to this! I just want some straight answers!"

"Maybe we would get some if you stopped interrupting." Natasha said, shooting an annoyed glance in the billionaire's direction.

**"You haven't failed, Grover, " Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall-" **

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud. **

_Shit. _He thought. _That is not good. But he's just a kid! Why would they have to keep him alive? Are more of those.. monsters after him? _Judging by the silence around the table, the other members of the team were worried for Percy as well.

**Mr. Brunner went silent. **

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall. **

Everyone was on the edge of their seats, waiting to hear what would happen next.

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow. **

A chorus of confused grumbles went up. "Excuse me?" Clint said, sounding shocked.

"His teacher?" Bruce started.

"Did that just say an _archer's bow_?" Tony asked, incredulous.

"A warrior!" Thor cried.

Steve cut them off and continued reading. _Better just get a move on and keep reading. _Steve thought._Otherwise we'll be asking the same questions for hours._

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside. **

**A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on. **

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck. **

The confused silence from the team continued.

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing, " he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice. "**

**"Mine neither, " Grover said. "But I could have sworn ... "**

"What is this talk of the winter solstice?" Thor questioned. "Yeah that's a good point." Steve put in. "Something must have happened then."

"Something bad." Natasha said in a low voice. The assassin always knew how to lighten up a conversation.

**"Go back to the dorm, " Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow. "**

Coulson chuckled, "Don't remind him." he said with a grin.

**"Don't remind me. "**

Everyone laughed at grover's words.

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office. **

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever. **

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm. Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night. **

"I guess he's a good actor then." said Bruce. "Well he wasn't a good liar." Natasha replied. "He blew the story of Mrs. Dodds not existing."

"Maybe it's a good thing he's a good liar." Steve interjected. "That way you know when he's telling the truth. And I doubt he would be a "bad guy" if he can't lie." That seemed to make everyone feel better.

"Sounds like someone else we know." Coulson said under his breath, a fond smile on his face.

**"Hey, " he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?" **

**I didn't answer. **

**"You look awful. " He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

**"Just... Tired. "**

"I guess bad lying travels between friends." Clint said, making Tony chuckle.

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed. **

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing. **

_I would too. _Thought Steve. _He must be so confused with what's going on, plus hearing his life is still in danger probably didn't give him any comfort. I hope the kid makes it okay. _Steve frowned when he realized how many time he had hoped the kid would be okay. _That can't be good. _He thought.

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger. **

"Yeah he really needs to watch out for his Geography teacher, I heard she turns into a giant sea monster." Everyone gave a chuckle, and Clint tried to suppress his smile to avoid another attack from the assassin sitting on his left.

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside. **

"_Three _hours?" Tony asked, incredulous. "That would have been horrible! I mean, science would have been a breeze but Latin.." Everyone winced in sympathy, all glad they had not had to go through the same thing.

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem. **

**"Percy, " he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... It's for the best. "**

Everyone groaned. "Oh no." Bruce said, "Don't do that. You're just going to make it worse."

"He should just leave the kid alone for a little. I know he's trying to help, but it's not going to sound that way to Percy." Coulson said, agreeing with Bruce. Everyone braced themselves for the.. horribly awkward conversation to come.

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

"This girl." Natasha said through gritted teeth, "Is getting on my nerves."

"It looks like she's done a lot more than that." said Tony with a laugh. "More like stomped all over them, ripped them up, then poured gasoline on them and set them on fire." After that comment, Steve wondered if the man had any self preservation. _If he keeps aggravating Ms. Romanov like this I doubt he'll be alive to finish this book. _Steve thought.

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir. "**

**"I mean ... " Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time. "**

Everyone winced at the comment. _He makes it sound like Percy was going to fail no matter how hard he tried. Although I don't think he means it that way, it would still hurt to hear that._

**My eyes stung. **

**Here was my favourite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out. **

**"Right, " I said, trembling. **

"He's definitely taken that the wrong way." Clint said softly, "The teacher should have worded it better or something."

**"No, no, " Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... You're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be-" **

**"Thanks, " I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me. **

**"Percy-" **

**But I was already gone. **

"Somebody's got a short temper." Tony said in a sing song voice, obviously trying to lighten the mood. The billionaire did not like anyone to experience _emotions_. He told Steve on multiple occasions that he thought they were too "messy" and it was better to just do without them altogether.

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase. **

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

"That does not mean that he could not make himself into a great man." Thor said. Everyone turned to stare at him, they were surprised at his words of wisdom. Not to say the god wasn't wise, he just tended to have some trouble when it came to the feelings of "mortals" such as themselves.

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city. **

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a sum-mer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall. **

_A kid his age shouldn't have to worry about all that. _Thought Steve.

**"Oh, " one of the guys said. "That's cool. "**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed. **

Steve frowned.

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city. **

"Coincidence? I think not!" Clint said, a look of mischief plastered on his face.

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound. **

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore. **

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

Everyone leaned forward, eager to hear what the reaction would be. _Maybe we'll finally get some answers. It's about time. _Steve thought.

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha-what do you mean?"**

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam. **

"What?" cried Tony, sounding like he could be in physical pain, "Never. Never confess to eavesdropping, it makes it so much harder to do the second time around."

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"**

**"Oh ... Not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?" **

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ... " **

"The kid had _got _to work on his lying skills." muttered Clint, Natasha nodded, agreeing with her partner.

**"Grover-" **

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ... "**

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar. "**

"Don't beat around the bush kid." Bruce said, smiling fondly at the book. Steve found himself one again praying that nothing bad would happen to Percy. _We're all getting so attached to the kid, and all we've done is read a chapter of a book!_

**His ears turned pink. **

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer. **

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**

**Grover Underwood **

**Keeper**

**Half-Blood Hill **

**Long Island, New York **

**(800) 009-0009**

**"What's Half-"**

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... Summer address. "**

"I wonder why he can't say it aloud?" Steve voiced his question, only to be met with a few confused glanced and shrugs.

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy. **

Tony snorted and mumbles something that sounded suspiciously like "Rich people aren't _that _bad." Steve tried to contain his chuckle, feigning a short cough before continuing and ignoring the accusing glance from the man on his left.

**"Okay, " I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion. "**

**He nodded. "Or ... Or if you need me. " **

**"Why would I need you?"**

Everyone was silent for a moment, all hoping there would be a reason for his outburst. Nobody wanted to believe that this boy would be so mean to his friend. _His only friend._ Steve thought, feeling sorry for Percy yet again.

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

Everyone relaxed, knowing that it had been an honest mistake.

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I-I kind of have to protect you. " I stared at him. **

Everyone stared at the book, dumbstruck. "Is he being serious?" Tony asked, looking amused. "I don't really see how that statement hold humour Tony." Coulson replied, glancing at Steve and giving a quick nod to encourage him to continue reading.

Complying, Steve started again.

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.**

**"Grover, " I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"**

"Shit." Tony muttered. "He should not have said that." Everyone looked at him, in seeing their confused stares he just shrugged. "Well now something bad _has _to happen. It's just the way the world works."

"Well obviously something will happen because you said _that_." Clint shot back.

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway. **

"What did I say?" Tony glanced around the table, a smug smile on his face.

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else. **

"I hope civilians don't get hurt." Natasha said, frowning. "Let's not jump the gun here." Coulson said, his voice of reason bringing everyone from their worries. "We don't even know if something will attack"

**We were on a stretch of country road-no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from pass-ing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand. **

Nobody said anything, everyone bracing themselves for an attack on the unsuspecting passengers of the bus.

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen. **

Clint sighed, "That sounds so good! And it reminds me of how hungry I am.." his voice trailing of before he looked at Coulson. "Can I get a coffee or something?" he asked. Everyone rolled their eyes, leave it to the archer to get hungry in the middle of what could be a potential attack. _It may just be a book now, but I still remember that time he tried to stop for doughnuts while we were chasing some rouge terrorists trying to attack New York. _Steve thought, not sure wether to frown or to smile at the memory of his friend.

"How about we wait until after this Chapter?" Coulson said. "You can run out then without missing too much, unless you want to leave now and miss this?" His smile said he knew the man would wait until they had finished reading. Grumbling, Clint leaned back in his seat.

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn. **

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses. **

Thor stiffened, when Steve looked over he looked ad if he was deep in thought. _Maybe he's onto something, he does have more knowledge than us when it comes to somethings. But what would he be thinking about with three old ladies knitting?_

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me. **

A look of horror crossed the God's face, he sucked in a deep breath. "You okay buddy?" Bruce asked leaning over to Thor, who was sitting beside him. "I just pray that I am wrong with my suspicions." he said ominously.

_So much for him telling us his ideas. _Steve thought, he continued reading.

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man-"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

When Steve looked over at Thor, the blood seemed to have drained from his face as well. _This can't be good. _Steve thought. Everyone was looking at Thor frowning, nobody knew what was wrong but they guessed whatever was making the God so upset was not a good thing.

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all. "**

"No, it is not." said Thor quietly.

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors-gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**

**"We're getting on the bus, " he told me. "Come on. "**

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there. "**

**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back. **

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for-Sasquatch or Godzilla. **

Everyone gave each other confused glances, they all knew the cutting of the yarn was something significant, the way it was mentioned in the story was more than enough to tell them that, but nobody knew what it could stand for, or why it was so bad.

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life. **

**The passengers cheered. **

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

"Well at least they didn't get attacked by some big, horrible monster." Bruce said, trying to ease the tension that had settle like a fog over the table.

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering. **

**"Grover?" "Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

_What? Why would he ask him that? He was there too, they saw the same thing? Unless it was like Mrs. Dodds? Could no one else see the old ladies? _Steve became more confused the more he thought about it.

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw. "**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn. " **

Out of the corner of his eye, Steve saw Thor put his face into his hands, before turning his hands into a fist and resting his chin on top of them. Thor's face looked mournful, like Percy had announced he had cancer, and only had a month left to live. _Wait. _Thought Steve. _Does that mean he's going to die? That sounds.. familiar somehow. _

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost-older. **

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord. "**

Everyone was silent, something about that seemed to pull at the strings in everyones brain. Steve heard a sharp intake of breath from Tony and looked to his left. The man had a mixture of realization and sadness on his face, apparently he had figured out what was going on.

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal. **

**"This is not happening, " Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time. " **

**"What last time?" **

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth. "**

"Hold on a second." Clint said, "Does he mean, like, they never _live _past sixth grade?" An uneasy silence followed the archer's question. _Let's hope, for Percy's sake, that's not what he means. _Steve thought, but something told him that hope was futile.

**"Grover, " I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me. "**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could. **

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked. No answer. **

**"Grover-that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?" **

_Knew it. _Steve thought. _Although I wish I had been wrong._

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin. **

Steve turned the page and looked up at the rest of the people sitting around the table. "On that happy note, the Chapter ends." Natasha put out her hand for the book, as she was sitting next in the circle.

"But before I give this over to Natasha." Steve started. "I want you two to tell me what you think is going on." Giving a pointed stare to Tony and Thor. They glanced at each other knowingly and Thor nodded his head at Tony. "Well." Tony said, shifting in his chair to get comfortable. "What do you know about the fates?"

* * *

_Ta-daa! I hope you liked it, and I apologize in advance for spelling and grammar mistakes. I didn't really read over it well because I've taken so long to update and I just wanted to get this up there. Until next time!_


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